


now there's nothing I can hide from you

by crookedspoon



Series: Season of Kink [9]
Category: Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Bodily Fluids, F/F, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Jealousy, Kitchen Sex, Minor Jason/Artemis, POV Jason Todd, Pining, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-21 00:17:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: Jason and Harley have been friends with benefits for a while, but things have shifted since she's started dating Artemis, his new roommate.





	now there's nothing I can hide from you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [girlsarewolves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsarewolves/gifts).



> Backup entry for the Holiday Challenge at seasonofkink (but didn't even make it with this one in time, sheesh). Prompts: "bodily fluids, emotion play/jealousy, oral fixation."
> 
> This is yet another "I'll just write the porn to this because like hell I'll ever write plot but I'll try to give as much context as possible" outgrowth from an AU idea I had after that Suicide Squad issue of RHATO.

Jason stares at the empty plate in front of him. It should have been holding two slices of toast by now. The slices in question, however, are still lurking in the toaster. They're the perfect shade of brown, but several minutes and then some past the perfect temperature.

He probably shouldn't have been listening to his best friend have sex with his roommate. That would have been the smart thing to do. Jason sometimes has his issues with being smart. Otherwise he would have pretended not hear, and he _definitely_ wouldn't have been picturing anything that was going on behind Artemis' closed doors.

But it's so easy. Because his thoughts are that intrusive.

The thing is, he is intimately acquainted with even the tiniest of Harley's reactions – how her breath hitches when he teases her neck, how she bites her knuckles when she's trying to be quiet, how she licks her lips when she really enjoys what he's doing with his own tongue...

He's never though of himself as the jealous type – especially since he and Harley weren't together or anything – yet knowing she's with Artemis right now stings more than it should.

If he didn't know any better, he'd say he's feeling betrayed. Except, he's never told Harley that he may have been developing a not-so-subtle crush on Artemis. How does that even come up in a conversation? _By the way, I'm having a thing for my roommate, but shh, don't tell her. I think it's better she doesn't know for now_? Like Harley wouldn't have accidentally blurted it the next chance she got.

Also, he's thought it would have been obvious. Harley is a lot more perceptive than Jason is comfortable acknowledging. Before he met her, he considered himself a sealed book, but she has often figured out his feelings before he'd had a chance to work them out for himself. Sometimes with nothing more than a glance. It's uncanny.

Perhaps she's been blinded this time. Harley has pretty much been developing heart-eyes for Artemis from day one, when she shoved him aside to demand why he'd forgotten to mention how hot his new roomie is. Back then, he'd taken her reaction as anything but interest. So if he'd been this dense where they are concerned, maybe his own conflicting feelings may have escaped her notice as well. 

It's not like he'd been on top of what he's been feeling either. He's still rather confused about it, but if it hadn't been for Harley's attraction to Artemis, he might never have come closer to unraveling any of it.

Harley had drilled him with questions about Artemis by week two: what kind of flavor ice cream she likes, where she goes on her off days, what she does for fun, that sort of thing. Nothing out of the ordinary, because Harley always likes to know everything about everyone. (Which is how she knows the precise schedule of Kori's tanning regimen or what size boxer briefs Roy prefers – don't ask Jason how _he_ knows she knows. He just does. It's one of his superpowers.)

He wouldn't have thought anything of it if she hadn't tried to distract him while coaxing the information out of him. Seriously, he would have shared what he knew anyway if it was innocent enough and he was sure Artemis wouldn't mind Harley knowing. But for her to resort to such underhanded tactics as getting him drunk or using his oral fixation against him just to avoid suspicion? Shame on you, girl.

It's not like Jason _wants_ to be staring at Harley's lips like an idiot when she so much as sucks them between her teeth. It's just, he can't help himself. They're so expressive – always telegraphing her emotions. It's fascinating. (Not to mention really, really hot sometimes. Especially, to his dismay, when she catches him staring and grins wickedly. "Whatcha thinking of?" she'd ask in a voice so husky it sends a shiver down his spine just to remember it. He'd stammer his pathetic reply, and she'd make a some lewd comment – something he'd definitely never ever have thought of by himself, promise!) So can you really blame him?

One time, she'd asked him which gym Artemis goes to while they were playing Tekken. Jason was about to answer when he caught her guiding her drinking straw between her lips. With her tongue. Now, it wasn't the first time he'd seen her do it – she always takes care of her lipstick (her glossy, glossy lipstick) – but it also wouldn't be the last time it left him speechless, words and wits flown right out the window. He probably would have given her the nuclear codes right then, if he'd been privy to them and able to remember.

He's a little ashamed to admit he'd begun paying closer attention to whatever Artemis said or did after that, just so he'd have something to report to Harley – even as he pretended not to be doing that at all. He wouldn't show a sudden interest in his roommate just to watch his best friend worry her lips while listening to him. No, sir! And he most certainly wouldn't catch himself ogling his roommate whenever she was tossing her long hair over her shoulder, either. (That one time she noticed him staring, his only defense was to ask her if she'd considered going into shampoo ads. He'd cringed at himself later. Smooth, Todd. So smooth.)

What had Harley been doing to his sanity?

Jason drops the toast onto his plate with more force than necessary. It's not his toast's fault he's such a sucker. He should probably contact Roy for a little pick-me-up, but last time he checked Roy was on dad duty this week. Which means he'd sooner rip Jason a new one for disturbing Lian's sleep than listen to Jason's girl trouble. If his situation even counts as such.

All he can say with some amount of certainty that he may not be too happy about the fact that he feels as though Harley's thrown him under the bus. In fact, whenever he hears a giggle from the other side of the wall, he's half-convinced they're laughing about him and how stupid he was for ever thinking he might have had a chance with Artemis.

Harley might be prone to giving out pity fucks when she's bored, but Artemis is out of his league and would never stoop so low as to consider someone like Jason dating material. (Face it, Todd. You're gonna die alone.)

Worst of all is that he's _aching._ He's never noticed how second nature touching Harley has become until common courtesy (read: Harley's developing relationship with Artemis) dictated he cut it out. He needs a cold shower. (He's _not_ going to resort to wanking when both women are within earshot, oh no.)

He glares at his toast. Self-pity is a stupid way to spend the evening.

"Cravings?" Harley asks and Jason nearly jumps out of his skin.

Like a mirage, Harley's appeared in the kitchen, wearing a blouse that's three sizes too big for her, and probably nothing else.

"Me too," she says and opens the fridge, pretending to be looking for something, just to have an excuse to bend forward and answer all his questions about whether or not she's wearing anything underneath.

Jason's cock twitches. It feels like it's strangling itself. He bites the inside of his cheek, so he wouldn't be tempted to crowd her against the fridge, feel her up, scent her hair. Weeks ago, before she'd been going out with Artemis, he might have played her game, maybe even thrown in some porn shtick for laughs. But now it feels weirdly inappropriate. He doesn't want to get in trouble with the woman he has to share an apartment with just because he still wants to sleep with her girlfriend.

Is that what this is? Does Harley not want to acknowledge that things have changed between them? That they can't just go back and pretend nothing's happened?

"Harley..." He knows that all she wants is attention, and sex is her way of attaining it, but this feels massively unfair.

She perks up and lets the refrigerator door drift shut.

God, she's sucking in her lower lip and he has to stop himself from running his thumb along her mouth just to watch her release it. 

Belatedly, he notices she's been staring at the tent in his sweatpants. Fuck.

"Jason," she says and looks up again. Her lips are kiss-bruised and glistening and perfect, and he wants nothing more than to make out with her for the rest of the night.

Except, it's not his place. He's never considered how much he feels like an intruder now that Harley is with Artemis. Before, touching her seemed like the most natural thing. Now, he questions himself whenever he so much wants to cuff her shoulder, like he would his baby brother, and he wonders when such casual affection has started to become outlawed.

Harley, for her part, seems to be unperturbed by his hesitation. She reaches for his face and says, "I've got something for ya."

Her hands are cool on his burning cheeks – that grow a million degrees hotter when he notices it's not clear lip gloss she's wearing. He buries his nose into her palm to escape the faint scent of what must surely be Artemis' essence, and even that small gesture, of him pressing his skin against hers feels like something forbidden.

Her fingers play innocently with the hairs at the nape of his neck; they want to lead him to believe none of this is wrong.

Perhaps it's not, but he feels like the worst sort of scum when he lets her pull his head down toward her. Worse yet, he moans, loudly, when his mouth melds against hers. What has been merely a suggestion before is now a full-frontal attack.

"Don't," he whispers in between insistent kisses, unable to get enough of the taste on her tongue, "don't do this to me."

But Harley doesn't listen. She wraps her legs around his waist and more or less climbs into his lap, grinding herself against his hard length as she does so. He's so gone in the second-hand experience of savoring Artemis, something so private he shouldn't be allowed to enjoy, that he readily supports her with a hand to her ass and another to her lower back.

"I've missed you, Jason," Harley breathes against him as he rams her back against the kitchen counter. 

God, he's missed her too, but his throat is clenching too hard to answer. His forehead sinks to her shoulder and his teeth dig into his lips. He should just go.

"Please, I need you inside me."

Jason groans and kisses the sweaty tendrils clinging to Harley's neck. He doesn't want to go. He wants to keep breathing in the molecules Artemis has left on the blouse Harley is wearing. He wants to keep breathing Harley in, feel her warmth in his arms, wants to—

"What about—" he starts, but there's nothing he can protest that Harley hasn't already anticipated.

"She knows how I feel about you." Her voice is like a drone inside his skull, chipping away at his resolve. "And she's okay with this."

Jason's panting is bordering on desperate when her hand slips into his sweatpants and begins to stroke him, slowly and sensuously. "You're not just saying that?"

Harley rests her head against his collarbone, but he doesn't know if that qualifies as a shake or not. She pushes the elastic band of his sweatpants down to his thighs and a moment later, her heat becomes his own as she rubs herself against his length.

"At this point, would you care?" she asks.

He may be seeing stars by now, but he somehow manages to grunt out a "Yeah." He would still care.

"I wouldn't," she says and guides him inside her.

For one blissful fraction of a second, Jason is free of doubt. All that matters is how good this feel, how hot and wet and intimate, and how nothing matters so much as keeping Harley right where she is is, where he could fuck her and kiss her and hold her close.

Unfortunately, that feeling doesn't last.

"That's because you've always been a selfish bitch," he reminds her. 'Bitch' is something she's proudly called herself in the past, so he doesn't feel too bad about using it.

"Language, mister," Harley teases, but her thighs flex against his hips, urging him deeper.

As he slides into her hot, yielding body, Jason has the strange sense that everything was happening so fast while his mind has been trying to play catch-up. Perhaps because he's been trying to deny himself until the very last.

Truth is, he didn't want to think about how much he's missed this, too. Even outside the bedroom, he's missed the uncomplicated fun they've had, the pointless arguments about who was the best Power Ranger, or the study sessions that ended prematurely with them throwing peanut puffs at each other's faces.

Sure, he's missed Harley begging him to take her harder, too, but that's only the icing on the cake.

"Oh God, Jay," she groans and rakes her nails across his back, "please fuck me. Please, Jay, I need you."

Who would he be to deny her such a request?

As he shifts his grip and slams himself into her, he can no longer remember why it had been so important for them to hide this facet of their relationship from Artemis. In fact, let her walk in on them and watch. She should know that he can give Harley something she can't: familiarity. He knows just where to touch her, how hard to bite her, at what angle to snap his hips to make her lose control.

It seems like Harley doesn't care who knows what they're doing either. She's not even trying to be quiet.

"Don't stop," she cries over and over, "please, Jay, don't stop."

She's gripping the edge of the counter and working herself up and down his length. She's a work of art like this. There is almost nothing more arousing than the sheen on her flushed face or the strand of hair sticking to her cheek. He watches a bead of sweat roll down her neck to her collarbone.

"Fuck, Jay, I'm so close."

He's stopped checking the words that come out of his mouth, so he may have been grunting or he may have been telling her how much he needs her. Even odds.

Gripping her hips tight, he places his mouth just atop the swell of her breasts, where her heart knocks hard against his skin. She hooks one arm across his shoulders, the other snakes between them to stroke herself as he forces her down harder onto him.

Harley whines.

"I want you to come inside me," she whispers, panting open-mouthed and needy. "Please, Jay, don't stop."

As if he could at this point. He wants to give Harley everything she asks for and so much more.

When she pulls her knees in and jerks against him, high-pitched moans break themselves in her throat. His own release crashes through him in the wake of her tremors, and she clings to him, stroking him through it. Her hands smooth over his chest and arms restlessly until they snake up to his neck, cup his chin and pull him down for the gentlest kiss they've shared all night.

She doesn't say anything after this, just winds her arms around his shoulders and rests her head against his sweat-damp shirt. She's right to be silent. Words would destroy this moment they have all to themselves. They would call to attention ever circumstance they're in now and Jason is not ready to remember what a screw-up he is. How he can only make bad decisions, and that they'll eventually strain every good relationship he's ever had.

Too late. There it is: guilt.

He shouldn't have done this. Not behind Artemis' back.

"Hey," he says softly, nudging her head with the side of his own, arms still wrapped around her. He doesn't want to let go yet, but that doesn't mean he should keep going.

She lifts her gaze slowly. Her expression is sated and happy and so beautiful he feels compelled to kiss her again. Yet he can't stave off the question burning itself into the back of his mind forever.

"Are you going to tell Artemis?" he asks, barely audible, against her lips.

She smiles and shakes her head, her teeth sinking into his skin.

"Why not?" he asks with just a hint of a growl in his voice. She's distracting him again. "I don't think it's right to keep this from her."

"You're so sweet, Jason," Harley says, a faint giggle giving her words a lilt. "If you feel the need to tell A, go ahead. She's sitting right there."

Jason does not want to imagine how foolish he must be looking at that moment, whipping his head around and gawking at Artemis who has been sitting at the kitchen table for who knows how long, one arm draped over the back of her chair and legs crossed in front of her, the mere picture of ease.

"How long have you been here?" he blurts, as a curious mixture of shock, embarrassment and arousal shoots up his spine. Oh man, can he be any more rude? She lives here. This is her apartment.

"Long enough to have made myself a cup of tea and drunk half of it," she says with a benevolent smile, tactfully not mentioning what just happened.

"Then you..." he asks stupidly.

"I did." Artemis nods over her teacup and takes another sip. He can feel Harley suppressing her laughter against him.

"And you're not...?"

"If the word you are looking for is angered, then no, I am not." Artemis uncrosses her legs and Jason almost flinches when she stands up. Her damp hair has left damp patches on her shoulder and Jason focuses on those instead of the curl to her lips. "If anything, I am sorry that you felt you had to stay away from each other for my sake."

Jason definitely flinches when Artemis knocks back her cup before rinsing it out in the sink. He's taken her on in the ring before, if only to show what a good sport he is, because he doesn't usually hit women even if he knows they can probably take it much better than he would. It's a principle thing. She's beaten his ass flat on the mat and while he can graciously acknowledge that fact, he's not keen on reliving the experience.

"So... what are you saying?"

Maybe he's slow on the uptake but he's a little confused by the turn of events. Relieved, thank hell, but confused. To say the least.

Harley slips off him and the counter, and the brief flash of cool air against his sweaty skin alerts him to pull up his pants for decency's sake.

"She's saying it's fine, dummy," Harley says as she falls into Artemis' arms. She waves a half-eaten toast in his face. Jason glances over to his plate to find one missing. "We don't have to pretend like we've never seen each other naked. Told ya I talked to her."

"Yeah, fine, I believe you." He rubs the back of his head awkwardly as he watches Harley press her lips to Artemis'. He feels like as if he were thrown into something he has yet to know how to deal with. "Would've been nice if you'd talked to me before, you know, seducing me like this."

Harley scrunches up her face. "It was a spur of the moment thing. Not like you did anything to stop me."

"Don't put this on Jason," Artemis admonishes Harley with a clap to her bottom, and wow, he'd never thought she'd come to his rescue like this. "You could have been more tactful."

"I was being situation-appropriate," Harley whines. "There he was, looking about as needy as I felt and I couldn't just leave him like that! You gave me the go-ahead, I just acted on it."

"Hey, uh," he tries to cut in so this doesn't devolve into a game of shifting the blame, but then Harley rounds on him.

"And you," she says, stabbing at him with her finger, "I told you Artemis was fine with it, but you didn't wanna believe me."

"It didn't... sound very convincing in the moment," Jason says, recoiling just a little.

Artemis gently covers Harley's hand with her own and tugs it away from Jason. "I think we went over the matter enough for now," she says.

Harley's shoulders sag immediately and she heaves a big, dramatic sigh.

"Okay then, who's hungry?" she asks and takes a huge bite out of the toast she'd stolen from Jason's plate. "Despite the double entendre earlier, I wasn't kidding when I said I had cravings."

"Seeing as you didn't let me have my dinner and now you're eating half of it," Jason remarks, "I could go for something."

"Only half?" Harley asks with a mien of pure innocence as she not-so-stealthily steals the other slice from his plate. "I must be slipping."

"You call that dinner?" Artemis frowns at the slice that's slowly disappearing into Harley's mouth as if it had personally offended her.

She huffs, and the forceful way she's opening cabinet doors and pulling out cooking utensils is reminiscent of an amazon preparing for war.

Jason feels the distinct need to get out of her hair for a second.

"I'll, um, go and have a shower," he says, gesturing vaguely toward the bathroom, "then I'll help prepare whatever it is you're making."

"I'll help, too!" Harley chirps and ushers Jason out of the kitchen. At first he thinks it is because she wants him gone sooner for some alone time with Artemis again, but then she doesn't stop shoving him until his face nearly crashes through the bathroom door.

"Wait, I don't need your help," Jason protests, but then promptly slips on a wet patch on the tiles. Harley catches him, so maybe he does need her help after all.

"You mean you don't want me to soap up your back?" Harley teases. "Or your buns? I'm really thorough, you know."

"Tempting, but no." He removes the hand that is feeling up his butt.

"Poo," Harley makes a face before tugging her blouse over her head. "Then ya gotta decide if ya wanna hop in with me or not, because I'm rank and need a shower, too."

"I was here first."

"Only because I pushed you."

"Well, it was my _idea_ first."

Jason takes a clothing item longer to undress, so she's already stepped into the cubicle by the time he's ready.

"Sweetie," she says, ready to pull the shower door in his face any second, "either get in or shut up. Your spunk is starting to itch."

"Maybe then _you'll_ need help soaping up your buns," he says and slips in with her. This close, he's physically towering over her, but if anything, she manages to make _him_ feel small.

"I'll even let you soap up my hair," she says, beaming and shoving a bottle of shampoo against his chest. "Not many people are given this honor, so make sure you perform your duties well, lest I be disappointed."

Jason smiles down at her as the spray starts soaking them both.

"What?"

"Nothing." He shrugs. "I forgot how stupid you are."

"Aww," Harley touches her cheek and pretends to be blushing, but can't hide her huge grin. "Thanks, Jaybird, you're stupid too."

There's a conversation waiting to happen, one that 's giving him nerves because he doesn't want to assume anything. Also because he likes living with Artemis and doesn't want to dash the respect they've developed for each other. He's barely had time to digest the implications of what she's offered Harley and what that means going forward.

For now, the banter and the inanities help him to shut out the nerves and to enjoy the moment. He'll find out soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Tension" by Vök.
> 
> Rebloggable post [here](https://crookedspoonfic.tumblr.com/post/171105016230/seasonofkink-holiday-challenge). Kudos would be v appreciated if you didn't hate this <3


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